diff --git a/meta/classes/cmake.bbclass b/meta/classes/cmake.bbclass
index ae3cc025e8..70e8677fc1 100644
--- a/meta/classes/cmake.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/cmake.bbclass
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ OECMAKE_AR ?= "${AR}"
 # Compiler flags
 OECMAKE_C_FLAGS ?= "${HOST_CC_ARCH} ${TOOLCHAIN_OPTIONS} ${CFLAGS}"
 OECMAKE_CXX_FLAGS ?= "${HOST_CC_ARCH} ${TOOLCHAIN_OPTIONS} ${CXXFLAGS}"
-OECMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE ?= "${SELECTED_OPTIMIZATION} ${CFLAGS} -DNDEBUG"
-OECMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE ?= "${SELECTED_OPTIMIZATION} ${CXXFLAGS} -DNDEBUG"
+OECMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE ?= "-DNDEBUG"
+OECMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE ?= "-DNDEBUG"
 OECMAKE_C_LINK_FLAGS ?= "${HOST_CC_ARCH} ${TOOLCHAIN_OPTIONS} ${CPPFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS}"
 OECMAKE_CXX_LINK_FLAGS ?= "${HOST_CC_ARCH} ${TOOLCHAIN_OPTIONS} ${CXXFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS}"
 
@@ -53,9 +53,9 @@ set( CMAKE_AR ${OECMAKE_AR} CACHE FILEPATH "Archiver" )
 set( CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${OECMAKE_C_FLAGS}" CACHE STRING "CFLAGS" )
 set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${OECMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}" CACHE STRING "CXXFLAGS" )
 set( CMAKE_ASM_FLAGS "${OECMAKE_C_FLAGS}" CACHE STRING "ASM FLAGS" )
-set( CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "${OECMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}" CACHE STRING "CFLAGS for release" )
-set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${OECMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE}" CACHE STRING "CXXFLAGS for release" )
-set( CMAKE_ASM_FLAGS_RELEASE "${OECMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}" CACHE STRING "ASM FLAGS for release" )
+set( CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "${OECMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}" CACHE STRING "Additional CFLAGS for release" )
+set( CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${OECMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE}" CACHE STRING "Additional CXXFLAGS for release" )
+set( CMAKE_ASM_FLAGS_RELEASE "${OECMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE}" CACHE STRING "Additional ASM FLAGS for release" )
 set( CMAKE_C_LINK_FLAGS "${OECMAKE_C_LINK_FLAGS}" CACHE STRING "LDFLAGS" )
 set( CMAKE_CXX_LINK_FLAGS "${OECMAKE_CXX_LINK_FLAGS}" CACHE STRING "LDFLAGS" )